Can cancer, and the knowledge that the end is near, sharpen our perspectives on change? Is war ever glamorous? Should an enemy continue to be an enemy after a war? Might our thoughts be clouded when trying to picture a near future that we might never see? Is there a role for creative visualisation in changing the outcome of change? Do we need technologies not yet developed to contain climate change? Can science fiction throw a light on changes that might happen or have already happened? What’s Adam and Eve got to do with how a Christian perceives death? Was it stifling the expression of my brother’s feelings to show concern that I might be upsetting him with the way our conversation had gone? 

This episode raises these questions and I hope the answers are apparent to listeners through these chapters:
A visit to the past and forgiving opponents
Imagination, Narnia and Careful with that Axe Eugene
A visit to the future, technology, working at home and climate change
Science Fiction, psychohistory and predictive psychology
Death from a Christian perspective; expressing feelings

Along with episode 1, the  episode is framed around the second and final part of a discussion with my brother, Phil. I described him and the background to our discussion in Episode 1 of Time is Sliding - Time sliding away: viewing change from cancer’s helter skelter .

The discussion was recorded almost exactly three months before Phil experienced the biggest change that everyone will experience: the end of life. The result shows Phil's humour shining through the fact that he was very ill, tired and weak.   It also provides a series of soundbites, with commentary, illustrating the changes experienced by one person and the society around him over the last 50 or so years. 

Books mentioned by Phil:
C.S. Lewis,The Chronicles of Narnia, First published between 1950 and 1956.
Jules Verne,Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: A World Tour Underwater, translated from the original French by F. P. Walter, 1869
Isaac Asimov, The Robot series & Foundation Trilogy  including Phil's thoughts on psycho history.
Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
Frank Herbert,Dune Messiah, 1969
Frank Herbert,Children of Dune,1976
Arthur Aldridge with Mark Ryan, The Last Torpedo Flyers. The True Story of Arthur Aldridge, Hero of the Skies, 2013

Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, 1997 was also relevant.

Films (a.k.a. movies) Phil mentioned:
Midway, 2019.
Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, Netflix Documentary, 2021

Phil's Desert Island Disc:
Careful with that axe Eugene_ from the Pink Floyd album ‘Ummagumma’ released November 1969

Photo of Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia:   K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Thanks for listening.

Rob's on Mastodon @[email protected]